Translated by Ollie Richardson
13:50:37
19/06/2017
ria.ru
The change of the format of military operations in Donbass proposed in Kiev is possible only with the assistance of the West, said the Director of the Center for Ukrainian and Belarusian Studies at the Moscow State University Bogdan Bezpalko to RIA Novosti.
Earlier the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Aleksandr Turchynov stated that Kiev needs to complete the “anti-terrorist operation” in Donbass and move on to a new format of military operations. The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko opposed the cancellation of the “anti-terrorist operation regime” before the adoption of the law on the reintegration of Donbass, which, in particular, will spell out the legal regime of actions of the Ukrainian military.
“It is quite possible under certain conditions. Firstly, support from the West, from the United States, and the European Union pertains to these conditions. Secondly, it is possible only with the confidence that Russia won’t react to this sort of attempt to flatten Donbass,” said Bezpalko to RIA Novosti.
In his opinion, Turchynov’s statement for an end to the “anti-terrorist operation regime” “urges to conquer Donbass, to completely liquidate all those who don’t share the opinion of the central Ukrainian government and, respectively, it is simple to finish the war”.
“Statements of this sort point only to what Ukraine officially states, and it’s not the first time that they aren’t going to comply with them (the Minsk Agreements). I think that here the western partners of Russia ought to react somehow to this or openly recognize that the Minsk Agreements don’t work, that they have practically stopped to have an effect, or put pressure on Ukraine so that it implements these agreements. For example, to impose sanctions on it. Or on anyone from the Ukrainian elite,” stated Bezpalko.
At the same time he expressed confidence that Russia won’t allow such a scenario and will adhere to the Minsk Agreements.
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